Abbas Tajudeen, the speaker of the House of Representatives, on Sunday, said the National Assembly raised the 2024 budget from N27.50 trillion to N28.78 trillion to ensure balance after diligently scrutinising the proposal forwarded to it by President Bola Tinubu
Tajudeen also urged Nigerians to expect a notable difference in the implementation of the budget when signed by President Bola Tinubu.
He told State House journalists after his Christmas homage to President Tinubu in his residence in Lagos, that the N28.78 trillion harmonised budget passed by the National Assembly on Saturday, will define Tinubu’s administration as people-centric.
Speaking on the adjustments made in the budget from N27.50 trillion presented by the president to N28.78 trillion passed by the House and the Senate, the speaker said the lawmakers scrutinised every aspect of the budget.
”We expect the budget to deliver because there’s no sector that we did not cross-check, scrutinise and make enquiries as to what is required to make the desired impact on the economy and on the people.
”After we received the budget proposal, we worked extra hours, no weekends, no breaks, even during Christmas we had to work to ensure that we’re able to deliver on our promise to Mr. President that the budget would be passed before the end of the year.
I assure you that by the time the 2024 appropriation is signed into law, and we start implementing it, Nigerians will see the difference.
”This is a budget that is going to define the Tinubu administration’s commitment to the people of this country,” he said.
Recall that the Senate and the House of Representatives, on Saturday, December 30, passed the 2024 budget of N28.7 trillion following a voice vote by Godswill Akpabio, after the Senate had increased the appropriation bill by N1.2 trillion, moving the budget from N27.5 trillion to N28.7 trillion.
President Tinubu had on November 29, presented N27.5 trillion before the joint session of the National Assembly.
The House of Representatives, also on Saturday, passed the sum of N28.7 trillion 2024 budget, following a report by the House committee on appropriation.
The breakdown of the N28.777 trillion approved budget showed that the sum of N1.743 trillion is for statutory transfers and N8.271 trillion is for debt servicing.
The sum of N8.769 trillion is for recurrent (non-debt) expenditure, while N9.995 trillion is for capital expenditure for the year ending December 31, 2024.
The N9.179 trillion fiscal deficit for the year under review is to be financed through asset sales and privatization (N298,486,421,740); multilateral and bilateral project – N7,828,529,477,860.
The total debt service of N8.271 trillion was approved for the year 2024, while the sum of N5.300 trillion is to be incurred through domestic debts, including ways and means, and N2.748 trillion through foreign debts.
The budget also includes a sinking fund for the retirement of maturing promissory notes of N223.662 billion
